


Celestial Draught

by BurrSquee, Tikor



Category: Exalted
Genre: Gen, Podcast, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-01
Updated: 2018-01-01
Packaged: 2019-01-26 10:58:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12555936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BurrSquee/pseuds/BurrSquee, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tikor/pseuds/Tikor
Summary: On the themes of Exalted and how they are meaningful to us.





	1. Episode 1: What is Exalted to you?

**Author's Note:**

> T: Tikor  
> I: Ipo  
> D: Sower in Dust (Dusty)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [What is Exalted to you?](http://lytek.org/wyuli/Celestial%20Draught%20S1E1.mp3)

T: Welcome to the first edition of Celestial Draught, your Exalted podcast for all of your Exalted lore needs. We're here with Tikor, Ipo, and Dusty, and the topic for tonight is: what is Exalted to you?  
D: Hey guys, how we doing tonight?  
T: Do we have a greeting from Ipo here?  
I: Hello World  
T: I will give the first answer here to Ipo, the newest among us to the Exalted lore fandom, of what Exalted means to her.  
I: Exalted to me, has always been the underdogs. I'm wholeheartedly in love with the Lunars and their progression through Creation. That... Exalted is about the the underdogs and how you have to support them.  
D: The Lunars are certainly the underdogs, I think everyone would agree.  
T: They certainly are dogs.  
D: What is Exalted? Exalted to me is a couple of things. I have alot of personal attachment to Exalted. I pen and papered Exalted back when I was in high school, god, probably 15 years ago now. It was one of the first pen and paper games that I played. You never really forget your first, real love, right? Me and a bunch of friends, our whole lives laid out before us, around a table rolling dice till four in the mourning. So I've got a real personal attachment to it. I find that Exalted has... it's got this great series of overlapping Venn diagrams that I fall right smack dab in the middle of. It draws its inspiration from Chinese epics, East Asian religions, Japanese feudal history. Greek epics! The Solar Exalted, right? Everybody in Exalted has this internal character flaw that will eventually lead to their undoing. That's like the epitome of the Greek epic, right? But, more than that to me it's got the themes. I read an article the other day about film nior. All the characters in film nior, they have this grey on grey morality. There's no good guy. There's no bad guy. There varying degrees of "Well, I'm trying to do my best. But really, deep down, I'm a jerk. I'm a bad person. But I've got to do my best to make this crapsack world better."  
I: I mean if we're going to talk about that if we're going to go into film history we're gonna talk about like the searchers which is like the black hat but not the bad guy but the anti hero. He's not quite... he's not like the epitome of the white hat I'm gonna save you and everything you know, but he's kinda like that... the guy who does bad things for a good reason.  
D: But to what end, right?  
T: To his own ends.  
D: And that's really... the ends is really what what gets me about Exalted. It's got that H. P. Lovecraft like... in Exalted there are so many things that want to screw this world up, right, and no matter how powerful you are yeah you may beat the antagonist, right, you may I throw back the Fairfolk you might stop the machinations of one death lord - very good you saved Creation! For now. Now all that time that you spent throwing back you know trying to assault that the Blessed Isle and overtake the Dragon-Blooded throne and reestablish the Solar Deliberative you know one of four other terrible deities is has been advancing their own machinations to undo the world. So no matter how many times you succeed, no matter how great your adventures are, you're always progressing towards ruin, right? You're fighting against this force of entropy and entropy wins every time.  
T: Sounds like a wonderful land for protagonists and the party to always have something to catch their attention and save the Creation from.  
D: Right there's this whole world before you every time, right? One of the things I like about Exalted... and I don't want to rag on D&D, right, I love D&D, D&D is a great system. I was a fifth level rogue in one of our campaigns, and we set up this great trap. We had statues armed, tied to a rope, we were gonna assault some Drow who were coming to attack us. And I go in there and it's it's a D20 system, so I roll like a two on my acrobatics check as a rogue and I screw the whole thing up and everything's terrible. Where that doesn't happen and Exalted. Even at character creation you should be pretty amazing.  
T: It is about the consequences of your actions less so than whether they succeed or not - though that can be entertaining session.  
D: Sure.  
T: When someone rolled nine dice and got one success earlier in today's session.  
D: *laughter*  
T: So Exalted for me, to dovetail with the H.P. Lovecraft reference is having a horror setting where you are the monster. And you truly believe in your own righteousness and I'm not talking about just the Abyssals that feel like death has not got its due or the Infernals who feel like the Yozis deserve to be unleashed from their prison but even the Solars. There's a reason the whole rest of the world considers them to be the main antagonist.  
D: Yeah, so who is usually the bad guy in this scenario, right? I mean the entire world has painted these epic heroes of legend as demons and undoers and bad things.  
I: I mean there's also the level of every history - every single one! - paints all the rest of the Exalted as something different. Everything is changed depending on how you look at it. It doesn't matter that in this one the Sidereals are not bad in this on the Sidereals are bad in this one the Lunars are great they're the champions of the world and in this one the Lunars are the bottom of the barrel, they're scraping the end.  
D: What does the common mortal... right, which side are they on? They've been indoctrinated to believe that they have this path they must follow and that the only people who can really save them from the terrible coming oblivions are the creatures that they revile and been taught to hate the most.  
T: No matter what the thousand stream river says. The only book lacking is subjectivity saying that there is the they are the answer for the world is the Scroll of Heroes saying that the mortals can't do it on their own. Oftentimes they have to have divine blood or demon blood or ghost blood or the blood of an Exalt to rise above the circumstances that they are born into to change them in their own way and that kind of horror setting where there are monsters that you can't hope to defeat without greater powers leads to such a religiosity that I feel is so authentic in Exalted. There are spirits. You can have tea with them. You can pray to their domains and ask them to help you and maybe, sometimes, in contrivance against Yu-Shan's laws, they will deem to see your cause as just and push you forward just that little bit to keep everything in line. And yet that that's the majority of experience of the mortals of Exalted and yet we played these demi-gods found in this world surrounded by this mortal experience to the point where sometimes my players feel like every character they interact with is an Exalted  
D: Could be anybody! I don't know who that could be! Everyone's a Sidereal, guys, I'm just saying! If they have a name, if the Storyteller describes them, they may be a Sidereal. I'm not trying to instill paranoia, but...  
T: Social combat only works when they have intimacies. Just saying! I will write intimacies with every character.  
D: Yeah, go ahead Ipo.  
I: If anyone can be Exalted... No, god, playing in Tik's games anyone can be an Exalted and then you're nervous about everyone.  
D: Yeah there's a paranoid there I agree. One of the things I... it feels like... no matter what your struggles are, it feels like everything is going to ultimately end in futility, right? And that's why one of the things that I really liked -  
the tag line in the very first edition of Exalted on the back of the book at the very end the tagline was 'What stories will it they tell of your deeds?' So it's not... about... it's definitely a game where it's not about the destination it's about the journey, right? It's about the struggle. It's about... the struggle defines you it to find your character it defines the world and the best you can really hope for is to it to leave your mark on or morally grey world and hopefully leave it a little bit better then you were born into it up before it reverts to some horrible end.  
T: Full disclosure we play a walk the earth campaign where I am introducing not only some veterans like Dusty here but also some new players like Ipo who had not played an Exalted game before now. And now she has dove into the deep end I have brought her in. Light Sinks Deep as it were.  
I: But you don't even understand. There is part of us that is actually writing... I got so deep into Exalted that I stupidly decided with Tikor to join in on the writing us splat book for Lunars third edition that will not hit the shelves for years to come and because of that we were just... we had to make our own fan book because we needed people to be able to play in the Lunar world long before the powers that be decided that it needs to happen.  
T: Full disclosure: we're writing Castebooks, we're not doing the full Lunar charm set. And unfortunately that is all the time we have for our first edition of Celestial Draught so please follow us and check in for our next session where we will be discussing the Thousand Correct Actions of the Upright Soldier as our special guest book. And talking about how the Dragon-Blooded understand the art of war and what that means to them and how they use that war to battle the Anathema we've talked so much about on this session. Thank you, and goodnight.


	2. Episode 2: The Thousand Correct Actions of the Upright Soldier

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [The Thousand Correct Actions of the Upright Soldier](http://www.lytek.org/wyuli/Celestial_Draught_S1E2.mp3)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We aren't doing Arms of the Chosen just yet, letting it simmer in. Probably February.

Tikor: Welcome back to Celestial Draught, your Exalted lore podcast for all your Exalted lore needs. And tonight, we'll be talking about the Thousand Correct Actions of the Upright Soldier. A very lore centric expansion for 2nd edition. And I would like to give the first question to Ipo here: Ipo, could you tell me the tale of woe that set you upon the path of blaspheming against the Immaculate Order, the Perfected Hierarchy, and the Elemental Dragons themselves? Gaia's own noble souls?

Ipo: On the very simplest levels, I'm a Lunar, so that in and of itself is why I dislike the Immaculate Order. You know, a couple thousand years of persecution and death would do that to anybody. But on top of that, growing up in a Realm island chain where being stolen for slavery would also do that for you to. Just, you know, outside of the whole Lunar backstory.

Dusty: Well it's a good thing the Lunars were the only people persecuted by the Wyld Hunt, right?

Tikor: Oh but those mortals of the Threshold would contest to that "only" designation there, Dusty.

Dusty: I guess we should talk about the book itself, right? So the book itself was published in 2010. It was a White Wolf book, so it was before the 2.5 Ink Monkeys revisions hit. 

Tikor: That's correct.

Dusty: So I just wanted to get that out there so we know what time frame we're talking about.

Tikor: And they have a whole section about revising Dragon Blooded charms in Thousand Correct Actions which we won't be talking about in this lore podcast.

Dusty: Crunch is great, but we love ourselves some fluff here as well.

Ipo: Y'all are ollllllld

Tikor: 2010, baby. 2010! So Sun Tzu as seen through the aristocratic Dragon Blooded who lead the armies of the Realm through the Threshold, subjugating them to their will. That is what we'll be talking about tonight.

Dusty: Right, so, Thousand Correct Actions, man. If you like Sun Tzu, if you like the Art of War, if you want to read a Dragon Blooded take on that.

Ipo: If you like Dragon Blooded propaganda and brainwashing, it's totally for you.

Tikor: Those of you who are familiar with the 40k universe might feel some parallels about how the mortal philosophy of the Realm Legions just bleeds through every line of text in the Thousand Correct Actions of the Upright Soldier.

Dusty: Oh man, I dunno, are you saying there's like a parallel between the Scarlet Empress and the Emperor of the Space Marines? Is that what you're saying there?

Tikor: The God Emperor himself, sir! The God Emperor himself!

Dusty: Oh we're gonna get a lot of angry comments on this, I can already tell.

Tikor: So we have here on this podcast, Tikor, the Storyteller, Dusty, the noble Solar Zenith, and Ipo.

Ipo: Hello, Creation!

Tikor: The die-hard Lunar fanatic. And we'll be talking tonight about the Thousand Correct Actions of the Upright Soldier.

Dusty: So I gotta know, Tik, are you dying to quote aphorisms and stratagems through the mouthpiece of Dragon Blooded NPC's, no matter the real focus of the story is?

Tikor: Why yes, yes I am.

Dusty: Oh please, I gotta hear this.

Tikor: So why does, "The Imp May as Well Have a Dagger..." what would happen when an Infallible Messenger shows up in the midst of battle to tell them about critical information shown to any person in the scene?

Dusty: So some of our listeners, they're going to know what you're talking about, but you've gotta tells us a little bit of backstory about what this Imp with the dagger means.

Tikor: The Imp With a Dagger is an aphorism in the Thousand Correct Actions of the Upright Soldier that says "The Imp May as Well Have a Dagger," in that you should not rely on sorcery to relay your signals for the upright soldier because if you do, you will distract your upright soldiers from the battle they are currently engaged in. And they will listen to your imp above and beyond the context of the battle they are currently engaged in, and lose the combat advantage by their listening. Instead! You should use the combat signals through the flags the upright soldier has long established through the Shogunate era tactics. 

Dusty: So what you're saying in other words is, you don't want to have a big sorcerous display that's going to distract your combatants, you've just gotta have...is this the first, we've got Thousand correct actions to go through, is this action number 1? Is don't use, don't rely upon sorcerous actions to get your battlefield directions...

Tikor: Action number 1, mundane communication only!

Ipo: Well, it goes with what they were saying, when you're relaying through the, I'm awful with this word Stratego...

Dusty: Strategoi

Ipo: Strategoi, thank you, they are on the outskirts, it's the generals themselves that are supposed to receive this information via flags or any other signal. Then the generals relay it to whom they need to relay it to, who then break it down, who break it down, who break it down...

Tikor: The Wing Lords, the Talon Lords, the Fang Lords.

Ipo: The Wing Lords, the Talon Lords, the Fang Lords.

Dusty: Let me tell you, this whole book, it has an entire chapter dedicated to, "You don't communicate with people more than 1 rank plus or minus where you are. If you want to tell somebody above you something important, you better go tell your commanding officer. And if you're a commanding officer, you better darn well not fraternize with anybody or give any sort of communication to anybody more than 1 rank below you.

Tikor: The Perfected Hierarchy is preserved within the Legions of the Realm.

Dusty: I like the way you said the word "Perfected." You couldn't see the air quotes around that there. We have our Dragon-Blooded lover boy here.

Tikor: There is no better arrangement of Legions than what is described in the Thousand Correct Actions.

Ipo: I mean, we need to be honest here. Both of the boys are Dragon Lovers, and then there's me, who likes Dragon Blooded a little less than Solars, and that's really not saying much.

Dusty: I gotta say, there's one particular note here that I really liked about how they, and this had to have been written in there specifically, is they talk about how if all of your troops are basically centered around one charismatic leader, then the correct way to deal with this group is to take out the leader. Now, what sort of situation can you think of in Creation, might there be, where there is one charismatic leader leading a huge army that is rallying to their cause?

Tikor: The Bull of the North!

Dusty: Oh my!

Ipo: Or any other Solar leader

Dusty: Now remind me, I keep forgetting, my history of Creation isn't so great, how well did that perfected hierarchy deal with the Bull of the North?

Tikor: The perfected hierarchy was sabotaged by infighting to undermine Tepet Arada and his uprightness.

Dusty: Well, by gosh, it seems like the Dragon Blooded do need a little bit better job of sticking together instead of stabbing themselves in the back.

Ipo: Oh my, if Dusty loves anything more than Dragon Blooded, it's gonna be the Solars!

Dusty: I swear I'm not like White Power Bill from Arrested Development. I swear I'm not Solar Power Dusty. I swear! But, if I can take the Dragon Blooded down a peg, I will. Somebody's gotta get the Solar's backs, right? We've got the Lunar fan girl, we've got the Dragon Blooded fanboy, well, Tik wears many hats, but let's be honest, the entire story of Exalted, can we just agree the entire story of Exalted is about the story of the story of the Solar Exalted, and everybody else is just a supporting cast member?

Ipo: Uh, no. I'm sorry, were you in, or not in, this jade prison for, I dunno, how many thousands of years?

Dusty: Why were we the one's that were imprisoned though if we weren't the one's who were most important?

Tikor: But the Creation Ruling Mandate that was given to Merela by the Unconquered Sun through the Crown of Three Thunders (sic, Crown of Thunders) has signified has signified their mandate over Creation to rule the Exalted host in the stead of the gods who've respited to Yu-Shan to play the Games of Divinity.

Ipo: And yet it was the children of Gaia who decided they needed to die.

Tikor: The Usurpation was wildly successful, I will not contest that fact!

Dusty: No, I mean, the Usurpation given is fact, but if we weren't the most powerful and the greatest god-beings on earth, why were we the one's that were targeted? I didn't see the Dragon-Blooded going after the Lunars first. I didn't see the Lunars getting their own jade prison.

Ipo: How about this? If they were so powerful, and so almighty, you'd think they'd have broken out sooner.

Dusty: Oh, mmm. I'm not going to further this. I will agree to disagree with our Lunar fangirl here.

Tikor: So the Thousand Correct Actions of the Upright Soldier talks about how the warrior ideal, being the legend that lives beyond time through their warrior exploits who sees no emotion but fierce determination, was defeated by the Immaculate Philosophy in the form of the Thousand Correct Actions of the Upright Soldier. How neat is it to have this book to have the Dragon Blooded focus with little to no mention of the Great Houses, because it was written in the Shogunate. With little to no mention of the Immaculate Philosophy, and no mention of the Immaculate Monks therein, and yet still have a marked contrast with the ways of the Celestial Exalted, to contrast the upright soldier with the warrior ideal, the storied hero whose name and legend resounds through history, who these humble tactics brought low. This Thousand Correct Actions of the Upright Soldier, really gives a new dimension that wasn't hinted at in the 2nd edition Manual of Power: Dragon Blooded, or the 2nd edition Core where Solars were detailed. And the Houses, the Monks, all the things you associate with the Realm fall to the background, where you learn about the military tactics, about how each member of the military must meet a certain test, at a certain time, each member of the military must uphold these particular actions, and hold true the concepts of the Thousand Correct Actions of the Upright Soldier. To have this baseline text is so fundamental to their worldview, in how the Thresholders deal with such an indoctrinated and double-think infused propaganda suffused fighting group. What can you tell me about that, Ipo and Dusty?

Ipo: Double-talk, you mean double-speak, which is 1984, which is the idea that it says something, but it doesn't actually say something. Although I may be getting this wrong. I dunno. (Doublespeak is a language that deliberately obscures, disguises, distorts, or reverses the meaning of words.) I mean, the good thing about it is if I ever have to infiltrate a Dragon Blooded military group, I sure as hell know how to do it. But other than that, I really do look at it...I remember reading the first couple of pages and going, "This is pure on propaganda, you know, the upright soldier has no sex, the upright soldier has no name, the upright soldier has no desire beyond that of loyalty. The upright soldier does not look for heroic acts. The upright soldier legacy is that of loyalty." (sic, legacy of victory) And I was just like, "I am reading propaganda." I suppose if you were not educated in words, this would be something very compelling. Because it tells you everything you need to know. But for me, it was just red flag going off going, "ding, ding, ding, ding, ding!" You've gotta get away from this.

Tikor: Argument through authority!

Dusty: I just gotta say how impressive it is that we have a tome for once that is dedicated to the nameless mortal soldier, right? Because the story of Exalted is literally the story of the Solars, the Lunars, the Dragon Blooded, the Sidereals, other Exalt types that are coming out in 3rd edition. We talk about these guys, these are movers and shakers of Creation, but here in the Thousand Correct Actions of the Upright Soldier, we have a tome that is dedicated to the good old-fashioned mortal, maybe Heroic mortal. This is how one should comport oneself, how one should behave, how one should direct his subordinates, how one should behave towards his superiors. And it really gives a great insight into not only how the Realm was able to, sorry, now the Realm, how the Dragon Blooded were able to usurp the Solars, but also how the Realm has been able to maintain this stranglehold over all Creation by giving these mortal soldiers something to cling to, right?

Tikor: A dogma to follow.

Dusty: Exactly, exactly. The Immaculate Monks have their own Immaculate Philosophy, their own Immaculate texts to follow, they have their own rulebook they live by, but the upright soldier, ah! He is the one that has to read this text and indoctrinate himself to follow its whims so that he can be the best soldier that he can. And in doing so, he makes himself a very powerful, albeit unwilling cog, potentially, or unknowing cog in the greater war machine of the Realm.

Tikor: So let me pose to Ipo and Dusty here a question, of what you would speculate would be in the, quote, "unabridged" version of the Thousand Correct Actions of the Upright Soldier, of which we have not read. If even it is a singular book, because the writings may have several lineages, like the Lunar oral history itself.

Ipo: I mean at the very least we'd see about seven hundred more practices for the upright soldiers because we were a little limited in this abridged. Not that I'm complaining. I'm not complaining about the abridged-ness of this text.

Dusty: Well I I gotta say that if the unabridged version were to have a full thousand action... and let's let's address the white elephant the room obviously there's that we've read to the book there's not actually a thousand actions in here *spoiler alert*. In the unabridged version you'd expect there has to be even more Sun Tzu type tactics. Now in the book it talks about "you don't want to attack where the enemy is strong you want attack or the enemy is weak." "You do attack to see how the opposing general responds." To get an idea of what their mindset might be.

Tikor: And many Sun Tzu-isms fall through. And we're gonna get to the talk about even executing folks who have not upheld the five year review of the legions themselves that you must show just how dedicated you are to the cause to the point of death to your own comrades if they do not meet the standards that are expected within the thousand legions.

Ipo: I mean but I'm gonna go I'm gonna pop is back for a second I'm gonna go what would I expect from the unabridged version and I would probably argue that it would have a lot more to do with the daily lives of the soldiers. Simple things like foot hygiene. We would have dedicated like very detailed understandings of what you will and will not do with your own feet.

Dusty: For once I agree with you Ipo.

Ipo: Thank you! Mark this down folks because this will never happen again. But it'll be things like hygiene and food and it'll be more on the aspects of you must have five hours of sleep. Which is that it which is a laid out in this book that a soldier my upright soldier must have no less than five hours uninterrupted sleep, that guard duty will not be held in consecutive nights or consecutive shifts. There's a whole list here.

Dusty: But we should we should probably talk, we should probably mention who gets a copy of the Thousand Correct Actions of the Upright Soldier here.

Tikor: When a wing lord is appointed...

Dusty: And what's a winglord? Do we know what the mortal equivalent of a winglord is for us laypeople?

Tikor: A winglord would be someone who governs over a hundred and twenty five other soul sworn to uphold the Realm in defense.

Dusty: So that's is like a lieutenant, maybe?

Tikor: In US army terms. A Fang is five people, a scale is twenty five people and a winglord is a hundred and twenty five people and whenever someone attains the rank of winglord they receive from the Scarlet Empress a personalized copy of the unabridged version of the Thousand Correct Actions the Upright Soldier which none of us have read we have only read the abridged version of the Upright Soldier and so my question to Dusty and Ipo is what do you think goes on through the officer's mind when they're presented with this personalized version of this of the Thousand Correct Actions of the Upright Soldier and how do you think this ritual has changed in the absence of a Scarlet Empress for the last five years?

Dusty: Well I I gotta say... I don't think that... if you read through the book of the Thousand Correct Actions the Upright Soldier, being promoted is not exactly a great thing. I mean obviously being promoted to a new rank of Scale Lord or winglord is politically a great statement and in terms of power and pay it goes up, but let me tell you, like like Peter Parker would be happy to remind us that with with great power comes great responsibility and I gotta say a good there's a good at least five pages of solid text devoted to how unit lords are reprimanded if their units fail to meet the expectations set for them by their superiors.

Ipo: I mean I'm gonna go a little more generally if I really going to be presented with this book I would probably go holy cow this is a really heavy book and I have to hold this for awhile. And also, "Ah! It's the Scarlet Empress!" How terrifying is that? But I suppose in my head is if Scarlet Empress isn't there I would say that there are not new Wing Lords being appointed at the moment.

Dusty: Well I mean eventually someone, some Solar Exalted is going to come around he's gonna kill those winglords off and if we're gonna have a power vacuum. Someone's gonna get promoted eventually right?

Tikor: We need Wing Lords in our legions! It does not work without the hierarchy!

Ipo: Well it won't be like officially done it'll be a field promotion. It'll be like well you're the only one to survive in your wing so I guess that means your wing commander you know you're winglord now so here's a new wing and good luck now son trying to get killed.

Dusty: Do we have to pay Mark Hamill a royalty fee every time you see the word Wing Commander accidentally? I don't know.

Tikor: Mark Hamill has a spot in this podcast whenever he wants it. You just contact us. We'll be there.

Dusty: Come right on over.

Tikor: So the third question I have for Ipo and Dusty is "The imp may as well have a dagger" What overheard messages do you feel think landed of the dragon but it in enough trouble or distraction often enough to encode this message in an aphorism within the Thousand Correct Actions of the Upright soldier?

Ipo: I honestly don't think it would be too complicated. I think it's a simple general's question is: "How do you know this is from your own side?" How easy is it to get a code book which they apparently have and have passed down through each wing. Each wing has their own code book, each dragon has their own code book, each talon has their own code book, each legion has their own code book. But still I think it has to do with the general's question: "How can you tell this is from your own side?" You have to put codewords in.

Dusty: Well I it's it's one of those things where I say that generally less is more and more is less. The Thousand Correct Actions the Upright Soldier lists the basic commands and drills that a formation ought to be able to go through. There's march, there's move like the wind, there's pause, cease, guide right, guide left, flank, and I feel like these were the things that were set in place. The basic commands that were set in place for a reason. I just got a feel like some smartarse at some point in time sent action it was like "By the way you have three hundred and fifty archers bearing down on you from a position on the hill thirty five degrees to the north west. They're going to be firing ammunition on you from this point in time..." and by the time this message gets relayed like the entire unit is just wiped out. I tried to imagine in my mind the sort of situation where like. Some long winded Lore charm using commander has laid out this incredibly specific message that so long winded that the entire unit is annihilated before it gets across.

Tikor: Some book learned sorcerer.

Ipo: They talk about this in the book that the highest ranking the farthest back does not give specific instructions. They cannot. They go directly to the generals and the general decides who needs to know whatever it is they need to know. They're gonna be like "Archers coming in" and they're like "Oh oh boy we need to lock ranks," which is what you do under such attack.

Dusty: But you know what's funny what's funny to me is that they don't specifically include archers. They are not part of the upright soldiers. According the thousand correct actions the upright soldier archers are part of the support crew. 

Ipo: Well let's talk about this, though, to be an upright soldier you must be able to give fifty fatal lashes or fifty fatal stabs in less than thirty seconds, or less than a minute. You must at ten yards being able to land ten shots with a projectile weapon in I'm in less than thirty seconds with fifteen projectiles and that keeps going and going. You would think if you have an enemy units at ten yards it's fifty yards a hundred yards two hundred yards you would think that archers must be part of at least some projects all throwing apparatus must be part of the upright soldier if they would give four different levels.

(Book of Air, the Training of Soldiers has these exact figures)

Dusty: I'm gonna say it may be maybe we'll call them recumbent soldiers. I don't know if their uprightness.

Tikor: Javelin wielding immaculate soldiers, that's for sure. (Correction: Javelin wielding legionnaires) 

Ipo: Because I keep fifteen javelins in my back pocket for when I need to...

Tikor: The question I have for Ipo and Dusty next is: "What happens when these upright soldiers, en masse, encounter some non-upright threshold upstarts that decide they are done with the Realm's rule and decide to revolts against their understanding with the satrap of their region.

Dusty: Okay well I'll I'll take this one first here. No one is pointing a sword at Realm troops and saying you've gotta go into combat or you're going to die, right? It's the ever present difficulty of realm of soldiers, professional, well drilled, well trained as they are they're fighting for pay. Now the the barbarians, who are faced with an encroaching enemy moving into their homelands, they're not fighting for pay. They're fighting for their lives, they're fighting for their homelands. Now one of the correct one of the the specific points in the Thousand Correct Actions of the Upright Soldier is you never leave your enemy [no escape]. You don't want a corner them.

Ipo: Right, they have no escape. They cannot have no escape.

Dusty: It's the open gate philosophy. You don't want your opponent to be backed into a corner because there is no more dangerous opponent than a cornered opponent. But what happens when you've got this professionally trained group that encroaches upon your... what is it? The thousand rivers? Barbarian tribes. Tikor will correct me here.

Tikor: The Thousand Stream Rivers (correction: The Thousand Streams River). 

Dusty: The thousands stream rivers,the barbarians of the Lunars. Can we just say eugenics?

Ipo: Oh, stop it now.

Tikor: Of the chosen people who are curtailed for leading the mortals in need new and enlightened direction.

Dusty: Yes well they're... they're eugenics project. *laughter* Let's say it like it is. They are genetically engineered freaks who are trying to advance the philosophies and the goals of the Lunar Exalted.

Ipo: Of some Lunar Exalted let's make this very clear. The Winding Path.

Dusty: We'll call them Wyld barbarians, and call them what they are. They are genetic anomalies that the Lunars have cultivated. They have been known to tangle with the Realm from time to time but they are fighting for hearth they're fighting for home. That makes them more dangerous than the Realm soldiers, but in this situation I gotta say I when you have a well fed, well maintained, well supplied army that is well drilled, and has years of fighting [experience] I don't care if you're fighting for your homeland, I gotta hand this advantage over to the Dragon-Blooded and to the soldiers in terms of how they can maintain their dominance over all of Creation.

Ipo: I mean but then you have to look at the Bull of the North who came with not well [trained]...Some of them were well trained...

Dusty: Well yeah but he's a Solar and not a Lunar.

Ipo: Oh you know what? Come over here and say that won't you?

Tikor: So the Delzahn Horde have cut this difference by saying that they would pay tribute to look to the Realm while also retaining their own independence and ruling over Chiaroscuro under the shadow guidance of the sorcerer Tamuz. That's the middle position. Whereas in the Caul Sha'a Oka fields open war against the Dragon-Blooded, hoping to push them off of that island in third edition. And make them never return from got from Luna's favored land whether or not Gaia is in residence spiritually.

Dusty: Well I mean we gotta say can anybody stand against the armies of the Realm in open combat? Like in an open field, I don't think any field force that you can muster can take on the Realm. The Thousand Correct Actions of the Upright Soldier is a good part of that. We've got very well I mean we've got people they're willing to lay down their lives without being asked because that's what the Thousand Correct Actions states.

Tikor: When morale is high.

Dusty: When morale is high.

Ipo: But there's also levels of even in the Thousand Correct Actions the Upright Soldier you can find areas in which you would be able to hide. Hedge your bet so you would fight in marshland. You would fight near rivers. You would fight in these lands that they are not supposed to fight and you don't fight in marshlands and if you have to fight in marshlands and you must stay on marsh grass. So, no, the correct answer is "No" you could not win in an open field with the round but if you're smart you'll never do it.

Dusty: Exactly you don't fight them, you can't fight the open field combat. You gotta do the guerrilla tactics. And if you're a Lunar I really mean gorilla tactics!

Ipo: *anguished noises*

Tikor: And that's why the Scarlet Empress lost all three of her campaigns in the East. Because she was too constrained by like forests out in that area, by the Seventh Legion and their tactics within the forests out in the Riverlands.

Tikor: And that is all the time we have for tonight for our second episode of the Celestial Draught. Thank you very much for listening please follow, comment, and subscribe on AO3 and we'll be happy to serve you every month with an additional lore podcast of Exalted with Tikor.

Ipo: Ipo.

Dusty: And I'm Sower in Dust, but you can call me Dusty.

Tikor: Cheers and good night.

Dusty: Goodnight.


	3. How were you introduced to Exalted?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [How were you introduced to Exalted?](https://www.lytek.org/wyuli/Celestial_Draught_S1E3.mp3)

Tikor: Welcome to your Celestial Draught. You’re here with Tikor, Ipo, and Dusty. And tonight, we’re going to be talking about how we were introduced to Exalted. And I’m going to pass the mic to Ipo first, because she is the newest among us.

Ipo: So I was introduced in between second and third edition. Third edition had been kickstarted, but hadn’t been released, and wouldn’t be released for a year after that. I was hung over, and I asked my dear friend Tik about Exalted. And it turned in to five hours of explanation! I was still hooked after five hours, so I went, “Absolutely, I need to know more!” And so, over the next seven or eight months, we talked about the different places, and the different types of people, and the different objectives of Exalted, and eventually we settled on a campaign ourselves. And everyone else wanted to be a Solar. Everyone else was like, “I’m gonna be a Solar!” And I was like, “F- that noise.” I was, I couldn’t handle that. And so I knew that I needed to be a Lunar, based on the history that I’d been told, based off of how they’d been portrayed in the previous books and in the books now. So I was introduced for third edition, but I will say that my true bible, my true homecoming was the 2nd edition Lunars. So that’s that.

Dusty: Man, so I was in high school…I fell in with a rough crowd, right? You know, real bunch of rough guys. We used to LARP Vampire: The Masquerade. One day, one of my buddies who went to a school for the creative and performing arts, he was an actor, artistically talented kind of guy. He walks up there, and I swear he was wearing this trench coat, asking us, “I heard you like White Wolf games, huh? I got some White Wolf games for ya’. Oh, you like Ronin Warriors? Well let me tell you about this game called Exalted, it’s got these Dragon-Blooded…” And he would go into detail, and the way he was explaining it, I thought he Dragon-Blooded were the “good guys,” right? So it really would set the stage for helping me get in the mindset of what the average peon peasant in Exalted would think. They’d think, “Oh, the Dragon-Blooded are in charge of the Blessed Isle.” Well, we setup our first pen and paper game, and it really was one of my first pen and paper experiences I’ve ever had with this guy, and he brings in the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack. And so we star the first session, and we’re on this boat, and we’re going out into the Threshold lands, and he’s playing this Pirates of the Caribbean music. And if you’ve never had someone really go deep into the theatrics on a roleplaying game, you are really missing out. And especially being the age I was, I was in high school, 16, so I was like, “This is the coolest thing I’ve ever done!” I guess I should say, this is 15 years ago at this point, so this is first edition Exalted. I don’t really know if I can adequately explain how much this system has changed in this time. Really, it hasn’t changed that much. It’s still the Storyteller system, you’ve still got attributes and abilities, the abilities haven’t changed that much. The Charms have, sure, but the mechanics aren’t that different. Combat changes from [edition to edition], but really, the core of the game has been preserved very well. And, man, the game just lends itself to well to the theatrics. So what about you, Tik?

Tikor: Thank you, Dusty. I got introduced during second edition, around 2008 by Brotherhood Blade, someone we all know well. He made a Solar campaign, and we were 100% Solars, and that’s why as all of my Storytellers, I’ve decided not to do 100% Solars. Because there’s kind of a like, “White Power,” “We are the supremacists” kind of vibe to a full Solar game that I chafe against having read all the rest of the Exalted lore. The different minority viewpoints that I like to bring in. But anyway! I played a Twilight Caste Solar, and I loved the experience of abusing my Wyld and Shaping Charms to get me and my party out of a particular maze that my Storyteller put me in, and at that moment I was hooked. I went to Half Price Books, and I bought Wonders of the Lost Age, and I have not turned back from crafting my own wonders since then. And I’ve since bought all of First Edition to understand Dusty’s viewpoint of the wonders that were there.

Dusty: Well you know who introduced Brotherhood Blade to Exalted, right?

Tikor: I don’t.

Dusty: Yeah, that was me.

*laughter*

Tikor: The web does weave, yet again!

Dusty: I’m sorry. I guess I should state for the record that I was the vector that brought Exalted into this group here. It doesn’t take a lot to spread Exalted, though. I think anybody that has played a traditional tabletop game like D&D, they sit down behind an Exalted character sheet, and it doesn’t take more than a session to realize that this game is really something. It’s really something different. It really raises the stakes on tabletop gaming. It really does make it a much more epic, I think cinematic is the word I want to use, experience.

Tikor: Especially with its embrace of “The Rule of Cool.” The idea that you aren’t penalized for doing ridiculous nonsense, that you’re given actual bonus dice to bringing your character into the scene.

Ipo: I mean the biggest thing is that you don’t have a moment where you’re…even at the beginning of the game, you’re not this worthless, weak character. You start off like this amazing character who can do deeds beyond any mortal’s dream. And you start off doing cool stuff. And then you just keep building after that. You don’t have to deal with the D&D setting of level 1, “If you meet the wrong boss at the wrong time, that’s it, you just gotta make a new character sheet.”

Dusty: Right, you’re the level 1 fighter. “Oh, I’m sorry, I’m not very cool. I can’t do much of anything great.” When you start off in Exalted, you start off as a demi-god. Now, the opponents you may run into are gonna be hopefully challenging to match, but none of this, “Well, I guess I’m gonna try and climb up this rope, and ‘Oh no, you rolled a 1!’”

Tikor: Certainly, having the Storyteller challenge the players appropriately is an art and a skill, and we try to endeavor to challenge our characters with the appropriate nonsense that they stir up among themselves, while giving them that shared story teller experience. The players in Exalted are just as responsible for what happens in the narrative as the Storyteller. I feel like they’re on equal footing.

Dusty: Yeah, absolutely. It’s one of those…you feel like in Dungeons & Dragons, you’re just reacting. OK, what plot hooks are there? Maybe I can go around a little bit, maybe I can cause a little bit of trouble. But in Exalted, it really does feel like, “I’m powerful enough, I’m strong enough.” If I don’t want to be bound to this region, I could just go walk somewhere, I could buy my way there, I could fight my way there. I really am a demi-god who walks the earth, who’s going to tell me no? Certainly not the Storyteller!

Ipo: Or on the other side of that, if you simply say, “Hey I’m going to control this entire region, and there’s no one who can stop me.” There really isn’t. If you decide that, man, the East is my domain, and I’m going to control ALL of it, and I don’t care what the Realm says, this is my place, who’s gonna stop you?

Dusty: Well, the Realm may want to step in a little bit there. There may be some contention; we’re not going to make it easy.

Tikor: Or the Confederacy of Rivers. You of course have to bring in an appropriate drama that makes the victory all the sweeter for the characters when they make the dominion of the East their own. Aided by the Gold Faction, who have the convention on the East, who would love to have Solar dominion over an entire direction.

Ipo: Solar Dominion? Who’s talking about Solar dominion? I’m talking Lunar Dominion!

Dusty: Whatever, get your weak Lunar philosophy outta here.

Tikor: You own Halta already!

*laughs*

Dusty: There may be a little bit of contention here. Ipo may be a more on the Lunar side of things, I may be more on the Solar side.

Ipo: And Tikor here is totally on the Dragon side of things. Don’t let him fool you!

Tikor: Watch out for the foot soldiers! They took Creation from you and have ruled it for 1,500 years.

Dusty: That’s one of the great things about Exalted. You can really set the scale. Your entire campaign could be focused on some small ministry office. You could be working your way through the bureaucratic ranks of some office off in the middle of nowhere.

Ipo: Or you could absolutely take over the whole world, the whole of Creation, it’s your oyster. You get to decide.

Dusty: I think the system and the mechanics really lend itself for the Storyteller to be able to say, “OK, you want to do that, I can come up with rolls for you to do that. You know, if you want to sit down at the D&D table, and you say, “You know what? I don’t really want to pillage this crypt full of level 1 rats and kobolds. I really just want to go somewhere else.” Well, you may be out of luck.

Tikor: “Sorry, that’s what I’ve prepared for this session!”

Ipo: There’s a level of…D&D has its own drawbacks, but a good Storyteller, wherever he chooses to whet his whistle, is going to be able to conform to whatever his party wants to do. Be it in any RPG, Exalted, D&D, Numenera, a good Storyteller can change with what his players decide.

Tikor: Or Pathfinder, or the World of Warcraft RPG, or the Westeros RPG.

Dusty: Shadowrun.

Tikor: Shadowrun indeed, I’ve played a number of Shadowrun campaigns. Something special about Exalted is that shared responsibility for telling the most engaging story. And I am blessed to have both Ipo and Dusty among my Circle, to lead me into wonderful mischief. This has been your Celestial Draught. We hope that by drinking this, you are inoculated against the Great Contagion. And we’ll continue upon many additional episodes to listen to our antics. Thank you very much.

Dusty: Thanks for listening in, guys!


End file.
